Date: Sat, 1 May 2010 18:59:49 -0600
From: Katya_Dee <concertoind@gmail.com>
Subject: The Year of the Salamander, chapter 4

   Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. All the resemblances are
completely coincidental. All the characters, situations, and everything else
in the story is owned by myself beloved. Contains descriptive sexual scenes
between males. If you are not supposed to read it, do not read it! Feel free
to e-mail me.

   This is a sequel to Specter'
Gamble<http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/specters-gamble/>.
You don't have to read the first one in order to get this one, but it would
make it easier to understand the characters in this story.



- IV -



            He woke up at 9:30 in the morning, and his first thought before
he even opened his eyes was, "Call Eve!" He smiled in the same sheepish
manner as he did last night, opened his eyes, and got out of bed. He found
the shirt he wore last night and shoved his fingers into the breast pocket.
It was empty and Sam immediately broke in cold sweat. Did he manage to lose
it...? He almost ripped the pocket off, trying to find that paper maybe
hiding between the seams. There was nothing there. He cursed desperately and
shook the shirt furiously. Suddenly, a neatly folded piece of paper floated
out of the other breast pocket and landed next to Sam's feet.

   He stared at it for several seconds, and then snatched it from the carpet
as if someone was about to take it away from him.

   "Ha!" he said triumphantly, and Specter looked at him thoughtfully, his
ears alert.

   Sam grabbed the phone that was sitting on the top of his dresser, and
carefully punched in the number. He listened to long monotonous sounds that
came from the phone, and was about to give up after several minutes, since
there was no answer, when the other end of the line clicked suddenly, and
then Eve yawned loudly into the phone:

   "Hello..."

   "Oh, hey Eve..." he said carefully. "Did I wake you up?"

   "Uh huh," she yawned again, this time with less gusto.

   "Oh, sorry about that..." he muttered.

   "No big," she said in somewhat normal voice. "Who is this?"

   "It's Sam..." he said and listened to her puzzled silence. He coughed.
"Ummm... From the bookstore...?"

   "Oh!" Now she sounded almost enlightened. "Hey, Sam! I don't function
well after I just wake up," she said apologetically. "Sorry..." she added
quickly.

   "It's okay," he said with somewhat relieved smile. "Hey, you are not in
school today...?"

   "It's Saturday," she said, and he blinked.

   "Right... Wait," he frowned slightly. "It's mid-August, the school
doesn't start for the next two weeks..."

   "Yeah," she sighed. "I decided to take that stupid class during the
summer... Figured it would be a lesser evil. I really didn't want to deal
with it during the normal semester, you know? Not with the other classes and
stuff... This way, I will be done with it next Friday. That damn essay is
the last thing I have to do."

   "Oh, I see," he nodded. "Good thinking!"

   "Thank you," she said very seriously, and Sam smiled at that.

   "Would you like to..." he coughed. "I don't know... Have coffee,
maybe...? Unless you are busy," he added quickly. "I mean, you probably have
to start on that essay of yours..."

   "I have enough time for that," she said carelessly. "Almost a week! Yeah,
let's do coffee, that sounds good! What time?"

   Sam glanced at the clock.

   "Ten-thirty?" he offered, and Eve made a thoughtful sound.

   "How about eleven-thirty?" she said finally. "I am still in bed, wearing
my pajamas... I gotta take a shower and stuff... It takes time, you know!"
she said defensively when he let out small laughter.

   "Okay," he agreed mildly. "Eleven-thirty is good. Where would you like to
meet?"

   "There is that little café..." she said slowly. "Oh, man, I don't
remember what it's called... It's on the corner of Goddard and Main, you
know?"

   "Blue Rain?" Sam remembered the name of that café immediately. He liked
that place – they served great coffee and their egg salad sandwiches were
unbelievably good.

   "Yeah!" she exclaimed. "That one! I am dying for one of those sandwiches
they have... The one with egg salad!"

   "I like those too," Sam nodded with approval. "Okay, see you there at
eleven-thirty then..."

   "Uh huh," she said busily, and he knew immediately that she was getting
out of bed. "See you there, Sam!"

   "Bye," he said, and the line clicked dead.

   It took him maybe twenty minutes at the most to take a quick shower,
brush his teeth, and get dressed combined. He ran a hairbrush over his
rather long by now hair and looked at his reflection in the mirror
critically. "I really should cut it," he muttered, pulling on one
particularly long strand of dirty-blond hair. Finally, he sighed and put the
brush away, thinking that he should borrow a hair band from Desmond. He
pulled his hair back into a ponytail and liked that a lot better. He nodded
to his reflection firmly and went out of the bedroom, with Specter following
him closely.

   Desmond and Gabriel were both in the kitchen - Desmond working the
coffeemaker, Gabriel fiddling with a frying pan on the stove. Both were
wearing nothing but pants, and Sam winced involuntarily once again when he
saw all those scars on Desmond's back.

   "Quit staring at my damn scars, kid," Desmond said without even turning
his head. "Get yourself a mug..." He finally glanced at Sam. "And get that
damn dog out of the kitchen," he added.

   Sam hemmed somewhat embarrassedly and opened the sliding glass door. The
dog immediately dashed outside, pausing for a few seconds before he hit the
grass, to make sure that the door stays open. Satisfied with the inspection,
the white fur-ball dove into the tall grass, enjoying himself immensely.

   "Hey, Desmond," Sam said after getting a mug from the cupboard.
"Thanks..." he nodded when Desmond silently filled his mug with coffee.
"Hey, do you have a hair band I could use?"

   Without saying anything, Desmond shoved his hand into his pocket, dug in
there for several seconds, and finally, pulled out a black hair band.

   "Cool," Sam nodded with satisfaction. "Thanks..." He pulled his hair into
a ponytail, wrapping that hair band around it.

   "Do you want pepper with your eggs, Sam?" Gabriel asked over his shoulder
while tossing the eggs slightly on the frying pan.

   "No," Sam shook his head immediately. "I mean, I am not hungry," he added
quickly. "I... Umm... I'm gonna take off in an hour or less..." He glanced
at the clock. It was 10:15.

   Desmond looked at him and slightly raised one eyebrow.

   "Oh?" he said. "Need more books, huh?" His green eyes were laughing.
Sam's ears immediately flamed hot red; he hated that.

   "Errr," he said into his coffee mug. "No," he sighed finally and lowered
the mug. "Fine, fine," he rolled his eyes at Desmond. "You were right last
night; I*did *meet someone in the bookstore, and I am meeting her at
eleven-thirty at Blue Rain, okay?"

   "What's her name?" Desmond asked seriously, his eyes almost back to
normal.

   "Eve," Sam muttered, feeling embarrassed for some strange reason.
"Evelienne," he added after a few seconds.

   "That's an original name," Gabriel said, turning his head slightly.

   "Yeah," Sam sat the mug onto the counter and looked outside, searching
for Specter in tall grass with his eyes. "I need to trim that grass..." he
muttered. "It's like jungle out there by now..."

   Desmond's mouth twitched slightly at the change of subject but he didn't
say anything; neither did Rayhe.

   "Take my car," the ex-assassin said casually, and Sam blinked at that.

   "Why?" He asked with puzzlement. "My car is just fine... It's not even
dirty – I washed it a couple of days ago..."

   Gabriel snorted loudly.

   "Because he is out of gas again," he said with laughter. "He wants you to
refill the tank..."

   "That's not the main reason," Desmond retorted with a small frown. "My
car looks better..."

   "Give me your keys," Sam sighed in defeat. "I'll refill your tank."

   "On the table," Desmond nodded with a small smile. "Thanks, kid!"

   "Uh huh," Sam muttered. "Well, since I need to get gas, I'd better go..."

   Desmond looked at the clock.

   "It's ten-thirty," he frowned. "Blue Rain is fifteen minutes from here,
and there is a gas station four blocks away..."

   Sam muttered something about the possibility of him getting stuck in
traffic, a possible accident somewhere on the road, a detour, and a huge
line at the gas station. Desmond rolled his eyes and waved his hand.

   "Have fun," he said and returned to the coffeemaker.

   "Call if you gonna be home later than midnight," Gabriel said very
seriously.

   "Midnight?" Sam repeated incredulously. "Gabriel, it's not even eleven in
the morning... Do you seriously think that I..."

   "You never know," Rayhe interrupted him. "Just say `yes,' okay?"

   "Fine," Sam rolled his eyes. "I'll call if something comes up."

   "Have fun," Gabriel nodded, quoting Desmond.

   Sam sighed, whistled for Specter, who bounced towards him immediately,
and bent down to pet the dog and to plant a big kiss on his nose, ignoring
Desmond's expression.

   "Behave," he said in a low voice, scratching behind Specter's ear. "Don't
piss him off," he added, glancing at Desmond quickly. "Pester Gabriel if you
have to..."

   The dog licked his face several times, and Desmond just sighed and turned
away, after seeing that. Sam laughed softly, scratched the dog's ear one
last time, and straightened up. He grabbed Desmond's car keys off the table,
slid his feet into the pair of sneakers, waved his hand `Good-bye' to both
men, and went outside. When he got into Desmond's car, he just blinked
several times after looking at the gas meter. The arrow was dancing on the
red point of Empty.

   "If I will get stuck in the middle of the road because I run out of
gas..." he muttered and threw the car in reverse without finishing his
sentence.